SettlementCentral.com The Online Resource for Personal Injury Claims

Issue 13

In this issue

Evidence to Support Your Slip and Fall or Premises Liability Personal Injury Insurance Claim

• Written Store Reports
• Don't let embarrassment stop you
• Photographs
• Measurements

Settle-It-Yourself Newsletter

Hello!! Welcome to the August edition of Settlement Central’s Newsletter. We are pleased to share this newsletter with you, as our business is helping people get satisfactory settlements for their personal injury claims.

In this issue, we will discuss what kind of evidence is necessary to gather so you can obtain a full value settlement for your slip and fall injury.

As always, we will post our articles on our website as they are sent out in the Settle-It-Yourself Newsletter. Our readers will have a rich resource available to them that should aid them much more than the Internet advice of some so-called “financial experts”, who have never had to encounter the courtroom-face of the insurance industry. Our hands-on battles with the insurance companies translate into useful and accurate information for our readers.

Evidence to Support Your Slip and Fall Claim

Unlike the automobile accident claim, where an independent police officer will usually make some observations at the scene, premises liability cases almost never have independent witnesses or investigators to provide evidence. Any employee of a store or apartment complex is not independent. As for all those people who saw you fall, or who could testify to the dangerous condition that caused your accident, well-forget them.

In today's world there may be a few who will give their name and phone number, but most witnesses will help you up, and perhaps stay to make sure the manager or other help has been called, but they will then continue on their way. You will later regret not asking for their name, but that is human nature. Most of us are too embarrassed to admit having been in the accident to begin with, let alone confront a witness and ask for his name.

So now you have two factors that make premises liability cases more difficult to prove: 1) no independent investigator; and 2) our natural embarrassment overcomes the logical duty to gather as much evidence as we can.

Today, we will explore how to overcome these impediments, and give you some specific ideas for gathering evidence necessary for the presentation of your claim. And don't worry if it has now been some long time since the accident: you can still use these techniques now, even many months after the incident. Likely the store is still doing business the same way and the scene will not be all that different. Same for a stairway collapse or trip point in a parking lot: chances are you can still photograph the scene.

In fact, if they have removed the impediment, or otherwise have made repairs, you should take photos of those as well. You can show how easy it would have been to cure the defect, and therefore argue that the duty on the land owner was strong because the cost or inconvenience necessary to remedy the defect was little in relation to the prospects of causing serious harm. In a nutshell, that is the test of negligence: what would a reasonable person under the same circumstances have done.

One last comment, don't become disheartened if things seem stacked against you. It is "their" job to make it seem that you are wrong to bring a claim, so consider the source when the store manager or the adjuster makes a remark about your accident or your injury or your claim.

For more on this subject, including store reports, photographs and measurements, click on the link below.

Click on Evidence to Support Your Slip and Fall or Premises Liability Personal Injury Insurance Claim

Thank you for your interest in our site; we hope you will find us to be an excellent source for your own personal injury needs!!

Jeanine Steele
Publisher, Settle-It-Yourself Newsletter

SettlementCentral.Com has a wealth of information and special tips for members who wish to arm themselves with the best advice for dealing with insurance companies. Our Negotiation section is filled with fresh and effective ideas on how to approach a company to ensure a successful settlement of your case.
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About SettlementCentral.com
http://www.settlementcentral.com
SettlementCentral.Com, Inc. is a Washington corporation providing general educational information, online, to personal injury victims throughout the United States on how to manage their own personal injury claims through the settlement process—from gathering the necessary information (evidence) to submitting claims and demand letters, through engaging in successful personal injury settlement negotiations with insurance companies. Our online instructions and self-help forms and letters are designed to make for easy insurance claims settlements in the areas of auto accidents, pedestrian accidents, dog bites, vicious animal bites, premises liability, and slip and fall accidents.

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